1815 In the wake of the Congress of Vienna, there is a new focus on the home. A simpler domestic style finds its way into German living rooms. As a countermove to French elegance, the art of omission blossoms for the first time in these climes. Shaped by Romanticism and Classicism, this epoch, which would later be derisively labelled “Biedermeier”, becomes the prototype for German bourgeois culture and at the same time a herald of modern lifestyles. The modern division of rooms in the home is developed. – Karl Friedrich Schinkel is Prussia’s head architect as well as an inventor of original furniture and an authority in matters of taste.

 

1830 Furniture that imitates the styles of bygone eras is shown at exhibitions. Historicism takes root and with it the fruitless search for a “German style”.

 

1835 Pioneer Michael Thonet applies his bentwood technique to a chair in Boppard am Rhein and with it develops the first series furniture. Chair No. 14 from 1859 is the first piece of furniture to be produced over a million times and an early example of industrial design.

 

1871 Germany is united as an empire. The “delayed nation” experiences two industrial revolutions in quick succession and becomes a leading industrial power. The population increases by more than half by 1910, to 65 million. This incredible dynamism is countered by an entrenched system in which the military sets the spirited pace. – As elsewhere in Europe, the nouveau riche accoutre themselves and their surroundings in lavish historicism. The domestic salon becomes a theatre setting for social life.

 

1875 Berlin now has one million inhabitants and is developing into a metropolis with enormous magnetism. Industrial centres such as the Ruhr Valley emerge. Furnishings for workers’ apartments are usually limited to
the bare essentials.

 

1876 The German Art and Industry Exposition in Munich makes the Neo- Renaissance popular, a massive style that is today considered “old German” and which epitomizes our image of German furniture. – At the World Exposition in Philadelphia, Germany shines with nationalist kitsch. With its show “Germania, Prussians, Kaiser, Crown Prince and Bismarck”, the economic upstart reveals its stylistic deficits.

 

1883 Friedrich Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra comes out. This work by a social outsider becomes the bible of the civilization-weary.

 

1884 King Ludwig II of Bavaria moves into Neuschwanstein, the last of the 19th-century fantasy castles. Lavishly decorated with the dream world of German mythology, the architectural and artistic realization of which nearly exhausted the state coffers, this scheme takes historicism to absurd extremes. The same romantic themes recur in the popular tapestries that hang over so many German sofas.

 

1887 As a strategy against cheap imports, England introduces the label “Made in Germany”.

 

1888 Wilhelm II, a fan of pomp and uniforms, becomes the new Kaiser. His handlebar moustache sets the ideal for male beauty while also coming to symbolize uselessness. – The Arts and Crafts exhibition in London puts a name to the movement whose design reforms are earning great respect throughout Europe. – The first department store chains open their doors. One of their advantages is the “fixed prices” that have not yet become common practice.

 

1890 Sigmund Freud inaugurates psychoanalysis. The first Institute for Experimental Psychology was founded in Leipzig in 1879. The individual is discovered.

 

1891 Prosperity produces novelties. WMF’s sleek cocktail shaker No. 1/2 looks like a foreign body in the product catalogue.

 

1892 Artists turn their backs on the established art market to found the “Munich Secession”. A few of the apostates, such as Peter Behrens, soon turn their attention to applied arts (further secessions follow in 1897 in Vienna and 1898 in Berlin).

 

1893 At the World Exposition in Chicago, German artists are inspired by the English arts and crafts on display. – Hermann Obrist’s embroidered “Peitschenhieb” (“Whiplash”) is regarded as an early Jugendstil work. The new sensuous artistic style, applied to objects of everyday use in an effort to create Gesamtkunstwerke, or total works of art, gives rise to the inventor of form as new artist type.

 

1895 An economic boom sets in that will continue almost until the outbreak of the First World War. During this period, the population of the cities quadruples. Opponents of what is often merciless urbanization come together to form “homeland preservation” associations. – In the artists’ colony in Worpswede, Heinrich Vogeler designs the Barkenhof compound as a total work of art.

 

1896 Architect Hermann Muthesius goes to London as Prussian cultural attaché in order to get an idea of whether England’s design reform might be applicable to conditions in Germany. He later affirms this possibility in several books. – The new magazine Die Jugend gives the reformed art its German name, Jugendstil, which is at first meant to be derogatory, but also comes into use in other countries.

 

1897 The International Art Exhibition in Dresden spells the breakthrough for Belgian Henry van de Velde and Jugendstil furniture. – At the VIIth International Art Exhibition in Munich’s Glass Palace, “modern minor arts”, although shown only in two rooms, cause a sensation. – Magazines like Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, InnenDekoration and Dekorative Kunst propagate the new curvaceousness in design. – Biedermeier is rediscovered and now appraised positively.